Cameron University/Lawton Community Band and Cameron University/Lawton Civic Chorale to present combined concert

The Cameron University Department of Art, Music and Theatre Arts will present a combined concert featuring the Cameron/Lawton Community Band and the Cameron University/Lawton Civic Chorale on Sunday, March 4, In the Cameron University Theatre at 3 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for students, senior citizens and military. All Cameron University faculty, students and staff are admitted free with proper identification.

The 48-voice Cameron University/Lawton Civic Chorale, conducted by Doris Lambert, will perform “Frostinana,” a choral song cycle by Randall Thompson. Thompson was commissioned in 1958 by the town of Amhert, Mass., to compose a choral work in honor of its bicentennial. Town officials requested that Thompson set one of Robert Frost’s poems to music for the event, since they were good friends and both had connections to the town of Amherst. The end result, “Frostiana: Seven Country Songs,” is a seven-movement choral piece based on the text of seven of Frost’s poems: “The Road Not Taken,” “The Pasture,” (Men) “Come In,” “The Telephone,” “A Girl’s Garden,” “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening,” and “Choose Something Like a Star.” Thompson structured the work so that the male and female choruses sang together in just three of the seven movements. Each of the other four was scored for either male voices or female voices alone. Adjunct instructor Yiuka Chan Spannagel will provide piano accompaniment.

The Cameron/Lawton Community Band’s membership, numbering 50 musicians, reflects Cameron’s outreach to area communities. Conducted by Dr. Jim Lambert, the ensemble will perform Sousa’s “Washington Post March,” “Fanfare Prelude on the Italian Hymn” by James Curnow, “Earth and Sky” by Michael Sweeney, and “Armed Forces Salute” arranged by Bob Lowden.

The two ensembles will combine for Mac Huff and Paul Murtha’s arrangement of “Richard Rodgers in Concert,” a medley that features numerous timeless hit tunes of Richard Rodgers. Included in the piece are selections from “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” “The Sound of Music,” “The King and I,” “South Pacific” and “Oklahoma!”

For more information, contact the Cameron University Department of Art, Music and Theatre Arts at 580-581-2346.